The present invention relates to an apparatus for forming stacks of flat objects, e.g. chocolate bars, in which juxtaposed objects are brought to a toothed wheel along an at least approximately horizontal path, are accepted between the teeth of the toothed wheel and are then brought into the region of a stacking station by rotation of the toothed wheel.
An apparatus of this type is disclosed in Swiss Pat. No. 532,522 and includes a toothed wheel which is driven intermittently and which remains at a standstill until the number n of objects intended for each stack has accumulated against the short sides of successive teeth, whereupon the toothed wheel is rotated by n tooth divisions, discharging n objects in succession which are transported away in the form of uniform stacks by two endless conveyor belts.
These known devices operate excellently but their output is not as high as is presently desired. More specifically, they are not capable of properly grouping more than 100 objects per minute.